Me Sparks

Statement

My practice revolves around the experience ‘looking’ as a reflexive self awareness of seeing. I work with painting to investigate the complexities of observation, individual perception and forms of representation. The object retains a central role in my work, both as the observed subject matter depicted within my paintings and as the material objecthood of the painting itself. I believe painting acts as a cipher for individual perception, while its limited borders even simulate our viewfinder-like vision. Through my work I intend to evoke a questioning of where an object ends, the subject begins, and how these dualisms mingle and coalesce within the space of painting.

GlogauAIR Project

While at GlogauAIR I plan to continue developing a lexicon of forms which reappear throughout my work. These forms develop from found objects, painting’s history and personal narrative, ranging from geometric blocks and tabletops to moons, window frames and masks. They have become recurring motifs that retain figurative familiarity and narrative, yet are abstracted from their origins through methods of repetition and obfuscation. During my residency I intend to continue working with these specific forms while collecting new shapes and objects from my surroundings.

CV Summary

Education

• 2016 Master of Applied Arts, Emily Carr University of Art + Design
• 2013 Bachelor of Fine Arts (m. Fine Arts with honours), NSCAD University

Selected Solo & Group Exhibitions

• 2017 Shape Form Colour Line: the language of abstraction, Elissa Cristall Gallery, Vancouver BC
• 2017 A Terrible Signal, Access Gallery, Vancouver, BC
• 2017 Sad Drawings, Institüt fur Alles Mögliche, Berlin, Germany
• 2016 A Beast Salient, Franc Gallery, Vancouver, BC (curated by Brynn McNab) RBC Painting Competition
• 2016 The Power Plant, Toronto, ON
• 2016 Endless Summer, Elissa Cristall Gallery, Vancouver, BC
• 2016 Fresh Paint / New Construction, Art Mûr, Montreal, QC
• 2016 see level, Charles H. Scott Gallery, Vancouver, BC
• 2016 Still Here, Point Gallery, Salt Spring Island, BC (solo)
• 2016 MAA Thesis Exhibition:Still Here, Concourse Gallery, ECUAD, Vancouver, BC
• 2015 LINEUP, Helen For Now Gallery, Vancouver, BC (two-person)
• 2015 Drift, First Floor Gallery, Barrie, Ontario (two-person)
• 2015 Salt Spring National Art Prize Exhibition, Salt Spring Island, BC (juried)
• 2015 Sooke Fine Arts Show, Sooke, BC (juried)
• 2015 Flight Lines, Concourse Gallery, ECUAD, Vancouver, BC
• 2014 Image, Corridor Gallery, Halifax, Nova Scotia (solo)
• 2014 Sooke Fine Arts Show , Sooke, BC (juried)
• 2014 By and By, Port Loggia Gallery, Halifax, Nova Scotia
• 2014 From There to Here, Eventide Art Gallery, New Glasgow, NS (solo)
• 2014 Redux, The Craig Gallery, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia
• 2013 NSCAD Community Studio Residency, New Glasgow, Nova Scotia
• 2013 Emerging NSCAD Artists 2013, NSP Headquarters: Studio 21 Fine Art, Halifax, NS
• 2013 NSCAD Grad Show, Port Loggia Gallery, NSCAD, Halifax, Nova Scotia
• 2013 Still Life, Anna Leonowens Gallery, NSCAD, Halifax, Nova Scotia (solo)

Awards

• 2016 RBC Painting Competition 2016 Semi-Finalist
• 2016 Nancy Petry Foundation Award: Royal Canadian Academy of Arts & Joseph Plaskett Foundation
• 2016 BEERS London, Contemporary Visions VII: Short Listed
• 2016 Valedictorian, Master of Applied Arts, Emily Carr University of Art + Design
• 2015 Salt Spring National Art Prize Juror’s Choice Award
• 2015 British Columbia Arts Council
• 2014 Gordon and Marion Smith Painting Scholarship
• 2014 Emily Carr University Graduate Entrance Scholarship
• 2014 Sooke Fine Arts Award of Excellence
• 2013 Arts Nova Scotia Creation Grant
• 2013 Nova Scotia Talent Trust Scholarship
• 2013 Robert Pope Foundation Painting Scholarship

Residencies

• 2017 GlogauAIR, Artist in Residence, Berlin, Germany
• 2017 Arteles Creative Residency: Silence Awareness Existence, Hämeenkyrö, Finland
• 2017 Institut für Alles Mögliche, Artist in Residence, Berlin, Germany
• 2013-14 NSCAD Studio Residency, New Glasgow, NS, Canada

Auctions

• 2017 C Magazine Contemporary Art Auction, Division Gallery, Toronto, ON
• 2016 Access Auction Fundraiser XXV, Access Gallery, Vancouver, BC
• 2015 Off the Hook: Art Auction, The MacLaren Art Centre, Barrie, ON

Public Engagement

• 2016 see level, Panel Discussion, Charles H. Scott Gallery, Vancouver, BC
• 2015 Painter’s Poetry, Helen For Now Gallery, ECUAD, Vancouver, BC
• 2014 Parallel, performance with Matthis Grunsky, Art At Night, New Glasgow, NS
• 2014 M.E. Sparks, New Glasgow Public Library Artist Lecture Series, New Glasgow, NS
• 2013 From There To Here, Artist Talk, NSCAD Artists in Residence, New Glasgow, NS
• 2013 Still Life, Artist Talk, Anna Leonowens Gallery, Halifax, NS
• 2010-12 Lake of the Woods Arts Community (LOWAC): Member/Volunteer, Kenora, ON

Publications, Reviews & Press

• 2017 Lucien Durey, ‘Vancouver Report: From Black and White to Coloured Lights’, Canadian Art
• 2017 Kimberly Phillips, ‘A Terrible Signal’, Curator’s Essay, Access Gallery
• 2016 RBC Painting Competition Catalogue, September 2016
• 2016 ’15 Artists are Finalists in RBC Painting Competition’, Canadian Art
• 2016 ‘5 Western Canadians Named Finalists…’, Vancouver Magazine
• 2016 Woo Publication Spring Vancouver, Canada
• 2015 Woo Publication, Vancouver, Canada
• 2015 SSNAP Finalist Exhibition Catalogue, Art Barn International, Salt Spring National Art Prize, Canadian Art
• 2014 ‘Trio Completes NSCAD Residency’ The Advocate, New Glasgow, NS
• 2013 ‘Artists Offer Fresh Perspective’ The Advocate, New Glasgow, NS, 2013

Auctions

• 2017 C Magazine Contemporary Art Auction, Division Gallery, Toronto, ON
• 2016 Access Auction Fundraiser XXV, Access Gallery, Vancouver, BC
• 2015 Off the Hook: Art Auction, The MacLaren Art Centre, Barrie, ON

Teaching Experience, Research & Arts Facilitation

• 2016 Emily Carr University: Seminar Leader, AHIS333 Interdisciplinary Forums: “Chroma”, taught by Randy Lee Cutler
• 2016 Emily Carr University Continuing Studies: Instructor, Welcome Lab: Academic Skills
• 2016 Emily Carr University: Teaching Assistant for Kimberly Phillips, MAA Low Residency Program Visiting Artist Forum
• 2015 Emily Carr University: Graduate Teaching Fellowship – Teacher of Record, PNTG216 Drawing for Painting
• 2015 Emily Carr University Continuing Studies: Teaching Assistant for Debora O, Welcome Lab: Academic Skills
• 2015 Emily Carr University: Teaching Assistant for Chris Jones, MAA Low Residency Program Visiting Artist Forum
• 2015 Emily Carr University: Teaching Assistant for Elizabeth McIntosh + Landon Mackenzie, PNTG310 Advanced Paint
• 2015 Emily Carr University: Seminar Leader, AHIS333 Interdisciplinary Forums: “Psychogeography”, taught by Cameron Cartiere and Phil Smith
• 2014 Emily Carr University: Seminar Leader, AHIS333 Interdisciplinary Forums: “The Art School”, taught by Randy Lee Cutler and Sadira Rodrigues

Gallery